You have to hand it to the Daily/Sunday Mail for their ever more rabid anti-Royal Navy articles.

Poorly research and backed up by "sources" that are never named, not because their careers are at risk but because they're misinformed, opinionated low life who feed rubbish to the gutter press.

Who ever it was on the Wave Knight deserves to be strung up.

I cannot believe the Mail really thinks it would have been a sane command decision to attemp to rescue the Chandlers with an LSDA, one merlin (aircrew NOT trained for Maritime Counter Terror operations), and a team from FMPG who are not hostage-rescue trained.

In the ensuing firefight, when a stray, or otherwise, round killed one or both of the Chandlers I am sure the press would be baying for the Commander who made the decision to commence - we, the RN, were not in a position to oppose the hostage taking, plain and simple but very much regrettable.

Its a big ocean, the Navies cannot be everywhere and we have not trained our sailors and Marines for counter terrorism and opposed/non compliant boarding, that is a task for specialist assets that are limited.

These journalist do nothing but harm, perhaps they are ex-RAF or ex-Pongoes...........

An investigation by The Mail on Sunday demolishes accounts by the Ministry of Defence and the head of the Navy which suggest that a naval vessel at the scene had no rescue force available. In fact, far from being a toothless bystander, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Wave Knight was within seconds of unleashing a crack team of 20 lethally armed Royal Marines...

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As wave_dodger has implied, the booties concerned were probably quite capable of performing opposed boardings and atomising a pirate boat and its occupants if necessary but they were not SF trained in hostage rescue. When will people realise that such delicate operations as hostage rescue are not simply a matter of having superior fire-power? If that were true, there would never be any problem. In case people think our counter-piracy frustrations are exclusive to the RN, read:

Somalian pirates who are terrorising yachts and cargo ships in the Indian Ocean are being routinely allowed to go free by international naval forces despite being captured with their weapons and even holding hostages...

More than 340 suspected Somalian pirates have been captured in anti-piracy operations over the past year and subsequently released on the advice of lawyers. Some have been disembarked on African beaches because of concerns over the seaworthiness of their vessels...

The warships involved in anti-piracy operations will normally have a lawyer on board the ship and any operation will involve a legal consultation. The factors considered for a possible prosecution include cost, the quality of the evidence and the operational impact. United States Central Command has revealed that in anti-piracy operations off Somalia between August 2008 and September this year, 343 pirates have been disarmed and released, compared with 212 who have been sent for prosecution. None to date has been sent for prosecution in the UK...

The Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean have become some of the most dangerous waters in the world because of the Somalian pirates. Three naval operations are tasked with combating piracy: a Nato force; a combined taskforce involving the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Pakistan and other countries; and Navfor, an EU force. A Nato spokesman said this weekend that it did not have any mandate to arrest and detain pirates, only to disrupt their activities. It was a decision for the commander of each vessel on what do with captives. The combined taskforce has a similar policy.

EU Navfor is tasked with prosecuting pirates and Kenya has agreed to accept cases. Commander John Harbour, of EU Navfor, said 75 suspected pirates were awaiting trial, but suspects were released if there was insufficient evidence. Kenya is struggling to cope with the numbers of pirates and a transfer agreement has also been made with the Seychelles, raising the prospect of them serving out their sentences in an Indian Ocean paradise.

The Ministry of Defence said: â€œCounter-piracy operations conducted by international maritime forces, including from the UK, have deterred, disrupted and suppressed a large amount of pirate activity. â€œIn general, a high evidential threshold needs to be met before transferring of suspected pirates to a regional state, such as Kenya. Where insufficient evidence exists, the Royal Navy will seize and dispose of vessels and other equipment, such as ladders and weapons.â€

I am concerned - but not entirely surprised - by the readers' comments below that article. It seems that the voices of common sense have been given significantly more negative responses than those "shoot 'em all!" rants, which seem to think that we can just drift around the oceans of the world killing baddies on a whim, like Lee van Cleef in a foul weather jacket... :roll:

I am concerned - but not entirely surprised - by the readers' comments below that article. It seems that the voices of common sense have been given significantly more negative responses than those "shoot 'em all!" rants, which seem to think that we can just drift around the oceans of the world killing baddies on a whim, like Lee van Cleef in a foul weather jacket... :roll:

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I suspect that's more an illustration of the fantacising celebrity-obsessed readership to which this paper panders than a reflection of rational-thinking people.

Whatever the truth is in this incident,and I don't pretend to know it,the whole problem seems to stem from the original MOD statement which downplayed Wave Knight's involvement.Along comes Mr Anonymous and gives a differing account which the press choose to believe and the facts are left for dead.Can anyone supply a reliable source because I for one am now completely confused. :?